The Evening Before
by Melantha A
Summary: The fires of the birthday cake were extinguished, along with the fires of the people in the room...[Itachi birthday tribute] [Slight SasuSaku]


**Naruto****-**_**The Evening**_

**Summary: The fires of the birthday cake were extinguished, along with the fires of the people in the room…Itachi, Tiny bit of SasuSaku**

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_I wrote this as a tribute to Itachi on his birthday. This is the fist time I've ever written such a tribute, but I want to do it for all the Naruto character birthdays. But this one his particularly special because it's my brother's birthday too! And my cousin's daughter's birthday! So happy birthday to Itachi, Tucker, and Ella! Although Tucker is the only one who will read this, since Itachi is a participant and Ella is two. Lol. _

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Itachi perched on a rock sticking out of a cliff hundreds of miles above the ground. It was the stroke of midnight and the moon illuminated the peaceful valley before him. It was the village of Konoha, surrounded by a thick forest. Itachi was lucky it was so late at night and he was so talented, or the shinobi that patrolled the village's borders would have attacked him on sight.

It was the night before his birthday and he had developed a habit of returning to his village on that night, just to look at the village he had forsaken so long ago for a few hours. He rested his head on the rock wall behind him, shutting his eyes and reliving his last normal birthday, the last birthday anyone even acknowledged.

His parents insisted on making it a big deal. They had presents, simple, useful gifts, and cake. Thirteen candles burning softly on the cake. Itachi stared fixated on the tiny flames as his parents insisted on singing and Sasuke played with a fork.

"Blow out the candles, Itachi." His mother said sweetly. His father contemplated him oddly. Sasuke giggled as he poked a cup with the fork.

Itachi took all of this with a completely blank expression. He returned his gaze to the candles and in that moment he knew he would take the lives of the people in front of him someday. He saw vividly in a rare moment of clairvoyance his parent's bodies splayed out at his feet, his own hand holding the bloody sword. Through the glare of the flame he saw Sasuke, still entertained by his utensil, and knew he would be left alive. He knew that he himself would be damned, that he would be hunted for the rest of his life. That he would be hated.

In this rare moment of clairvoyance, Itachi saw his fate. He saw the fate of his entire family, reflected in the glare of the candles. With a last glance around the table, he took a deep breath and extinguished all of the candles, as he knew he would someday extinguish the lights burning within each person present that night.

Itachi sighed heavily after his mental playback of the moment. He pulled himself up by the cracks in the cliff face, casting a last glance back at the village.

"Happy Birthday…" He mumbled, vanishing into the darkness to resume this cold life he lived.

Down in the village, Sasuke gazed out his window at the moon, his eyes narrowed in hate. His entire body trembled and his fist clenched the windowsill so much that it hurt.

"Happy Birthday…" He snarled. "Nii-san…" His voice was quite soft, but filled with hatred. He tried to calm himself down by counting to ten but it didn't work. Just the memory of his brother sent waves of anguish and revulsion down his spine.

"Sasuke…" A voice mumbled from behind him. "Sasuke, what's wrong?" Sasuke turned. Sakura looked at him groggily, her hair tumbling into her eyes and the blankets sliding down her back. Sasuke sighed, all anger dissipated at the sight of her encouraging smile. She held out her hand to him and he took it, climbing into bed with her. She wrapped her arms around him, holding his head against her heart. In her embrace he could feel no anger and he fell quietly asleep in her warm arms, to the beating of her heart. The light inside him flickered, lighting in his girlfriend's presence. Itachi no longer held sway over it.

Itachi slept that night on the cold ground under a tree, dreaming horrible dreams of candles and memories, his light forever darkened...

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_So what did you think? I actually really like it, but of course I'm biased. Reviews are highly appreciated!_

_-Melantha_


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